Eight Tennessee driver service centers will be open special hours for the next two months in order to process free voter I.D. cards required for voting in the state.
The centers were chosen based on the size of the populations they serve and the response from citizens to centers that were opened on Saturdays before the primary election.
The new state law which went into effect this year requires voters to show a federal or state-issued photo ID at the polls. The I.D. can be from any state and can even be expired.
The law also requires the Department of Safety and Homeland Security to issue photo IDs for voting purposes at no charge.
As of September 6, 2012, the Department of Safety and Homeland Security had issued 22,355 photo IDs for voting purposes.
The vast majority (20,967) of those issued were non-photo driver licenses converted into photo driver licenses, while 1,388 were original photo identification cards.
The eight driver service centers will be open from 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 6 and Saturday, November 3.
The centers will issue voter photo IDs and convert non-photo driver licenses into photo driver licenses only.
No other services will be available during these special hours.
The following driver service centers will provide this special Saturday service:
Shelby County
3200 East Shelby Drive
Memphis, TN 38118
Madison County
100 Benchmark Circle
Jackson, TN 38301
Davidson County
6604 Centennial Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37209
Hamilton County
6502 Bonny Oaks Drive
Chattanooga, TN 37416
Knox County
7320 Region Lane
Knoxville, TN 37914
Putnam County
4600 Jefferson Ave.
Cookeville, TN 38506
Washington County
4717 Lake Park Drive
Johnson City, TN 37615
Weakley County
8598 Highway 22
Dresden, TN 38225
To minimize the possibility of wait times during Saturday hours, groups or organizations planning to make a group visit to a driver service center should schedule an appointment by calling Melissa Long at 865-712-4908 (east Tennessee contact) or Rochelle Bryant at 931-242-7282 (west Tennessee contact).
For more information on the new voter photo ID law, including acceptable forms of photo identification and documents needed to obtain a photo ID for voting purposes, please visit the Department of Safety and Homeland Security’s website at www.tn.gov/safety